Easter in Rome

Emilie and I are heading to Rome this weekend for Easter. We’re leaving on Friday and returning on Monday, so it will be a nice four day trip. I’m sure that it’ll be a zoo given that it’s Easter, but it should also be an interesting time to see the city.

This is my first visit to Rome – in fact, my only visit to Italy has been while skiing during my recent trip to Zermatt, so this will effectively be my first “real” visit to Italy. The weather is supposed to be mixed – sunny the first two days, with rain on Easter and something in between on Monday.

As it’s my first time visiting Rome, we plan to see all the main tourist sites (Emilie has been to Rome twice, but it was when she was much younger). We also have tickets to see an opera – Puccini’s Tosca – and an art exhibition for the painter Caravaggio. Otherwise, I expect a healthy dose of churches, fountains, ancient architecture and great food of course.

American Imports

For better or worse, Swiss and French TV relies heavily on American programming, whether current or from decades ago (and seemingly everywhere in between). I’m pretty sure things have officially hit rock bottom as we now have access to MTV’s The Jersey Shore.

I saw this program when I was back in the U.S. over Christmas and it was definitely “train wreck” television at its best. You know you should turn the channel…look away…thoroughly cleanse yourself…but you just can’t. If nothing else, the translations are pretty funny. And in case you were wondering, the terms “guido” and “guidette” are apparently the same in French…

Lac Léman

The weather was beautiful this evening – a literal calm before the storm as it’s supposed to rain most of the weekend – so I decided to take some pictures down by the lake.

Il y a du soleil

In the two days since returning from Zermatt, the weather has been incredible. The first thing I did on Tuesday morning was check the weather channel -- which offers live shots from weather cameras stationed throughout Switzerland -- and Zermatt was surrounded by blue skies.

Interestingly, the forecast is for the nice weather to continue for the balance of the work week before making an abrupt change this weekend, when rain is set to return. Thus, any visitors heading to Zermatt for the weekend will unfortunately experience the same weather that we had. Hopefully they’ll at least have favorable snow conditions like we experienced.

Zermatt - Day III

We were finally greeted by some early morning sun and decided that the favorable weather justified the international ski pass. In order to get to the Italian side of the mountain, we began the day by returning to the Klein Matterhorn. It was clear enough to see the Matterhorn this time so we returned to the observation platform for some more pictures.










As can be seen from the photos, the Matterhorn doesn’t have quite the recognizable look that it does from Zermatt (for reference, see my Zermatt post from back in July). That said, it is still a very impressive sight from any angle.



















The return to the Klein Matterhorn also provided Emilie with the opportunity to buy a couple of coffee mugs that yodel when you pick them up. She had seen them during lunch the day before but didn’t have a backpack to carry them around while skiing. This time, though, she came prepared.

We then headed straight to the Italian side of the mountain. The following is a picture at the border of one of the runs.

It was great to finally have some sun to go along with the great snow conditions. The runs were wide open, in large part because it was a Monday I’m sure. That said, it was still much more crowded on the Swiss side, so perhaps we just got lucky.

The Italian side definitely had a more laid-back and relaxed feel. While the Swiss side feels like everyone is training for the next World Cup race, the Italian side has much more of a recreational feel. The caliber of the average skier isn’t as high, but you get the feeling that people are nonetheless having more fun.

Here are some pictures that I took, including one of the Matterhorn from the opposite side that one sees from Zermatt.



















For lunch we had Italian food. As with the skiers on the Italian side, the people working in the restaurants on the Italian side seemed to be having a lot more fun as well. It’s a bit hard to explain, but everyone just seemed to be in a real positive mood and enjoying themselves.

For the rest of the afternoon, we just tried to get as much skiing in as possible and explore the entire mountain on the Italian side. There was a weird sort of fog that kept fading in and out, but for the most part it only served to limit the views here and there.

I liked this sign posted at the edge of a small drop off. It seemed pretty self explanatory.

Toward the end of the day we headed back to the Swiss side of the mountain and got in our last runs before calling it a trip. Here’s a photo that I took of Zermatt on the way down.

All in all I can’t complain given the great ski conditions over the three days, even if the sun didn’t make an appearance as much as I would have liked. That said, it’d be great to return to Zermatt on a clear day and be able to ski all day amongst the incredible views.

Zermatt - Day II

The optimist in me was hoping that we’d wake up to a sunny day given the clear skies the night before. That hope was squashed upon opening the curtains in the morning and seeing some light rain.

We were able to buy our lift tickets at the reception desk of the hotel, which was very convenient. We asked the concierge whether he thought it would be worthwhile to get an international lift ticket (which allows you to ski on both the Swiss and Italian side of the mountain), but he advised us against it given the poor forecast.

The weather actually ended up getting better as we went further up the mountain. As can be seen from the following pictures, the sun even came out while we were waiting for the cable car to head to the top.










The weather held up for a couple of hours and the snow was great. And then it started to snow…and snow…and snow. On the positive side, it felt like no one else was on the mountain and it was great to ski in fresh powder. But as with yesterday, the visibility got a bit limited at times.

The weather started to clear a bit when we were going to stop for lunch, so we decided to take the cable car back up to the Klein Matterhorn peak. It is noted as the highest ski lift in Europe and has a observation platform at 3,883 meters (12,740 feet). On a clear day it offers great views of the Matterhorn, but we weren’t expecting much given the generally poor visibility.

After arriving at the top of the lift, you exit through a tunnel that has been blasted through the entire mountain. About half-way through the tunnel there’s an elevator to the base of the observation platform, which requires a short stair climb of 10 meters or so.

Here are some of the pictures that I took from the platform. Unfortunately, the Matterhorn wasn’t really visible, but the view was still pretty incredible. On the viewing platform there is also a crucifix that I thought looked pretty interesting as well.



















The only notable development over lunch was the departure of the prospect of improved weather. The cloud cover had completely returned and the sun had gone away by the time that we had our skis back on and were heading down the mountain. Fortunately, the powder was still fresh and the runs were still wide open.

We skied until the lifts closed and then headed straight to the spa after returning to the hotel. I’m pretty sure that I would have been a lot sorer if not for the solid hour spent rotating between the jacuzzis, pool, sauna and steam room.

For dinner we went out for what I assume will be my last fondue experience until next winter. Unless I have some unforeseen visitors who really want to have fondue in the off-season, I definitely plan on taking an extended break. While I really like it, I feel like I’ve definitely met my quota of excessive molten cheese consumption for the time being.

Here are some pictures of the meal. The appetizer is always my favorite part.










I also found the following interesting. As can be seen from the (poor) camera phone picture, Lionel Richie and Billy Idol are playing at this year’s Zermatt Unplugged event in mid-April. To the extent that you’re looking for a flashback to the 80s, Zermatt is apparently where you find it. As a quick aside, I actually saw Billy Idol at the Bridge School Benefit Concert in 2001 and he was pretty good.

Zermatt - Day I

The trip to Zermatt from Lausanne takes about two and a half hours, but you can’t drive the whole way since cars are prohibited in Zermatt. As a result, you have to park in nearby Täsch and then either take the train or a hotel shuttle the rest of the way. Here are a couple of pictures taken in Täsch while waiting for the shuttle. At the time, the weather was actually okay, thus providing a (largely false) sense of hope for the balance of the day.









While Zermatt is car-free, there are nonetheless a number of small electric “cars” driving through the streets. They’re basically large, enclosed golf carts that are used to transport both people and goods throughout the town given the prohibition of cars. There are also a couple of public shuttles that take you to / from center of town and the ski-lifts at the base of the mountains.

We arrived at the hotel around 11am and were fortunate in that our room was available for early check-in. Here’s a photo of the room itself – needless to say, it definitely had the fresh smell of wood and an alpine feel. There was also a personalized note on the T.V.










Here are some pictures from the balcony as well, with the weather still appearing promising…









The half-day lift tickets started at 12:15pm, so our timing worked out well. After getting settled at the hotel, we headed to the Gornergratbahn, which is a train that takes you to up the middle of the ski resort. It’s about a 20 minute ride and is pretty neat as you have great views and go through some tunnels that reminded me of the Matterhorn ride at Disneyland.

By the time we arrived at the Gornergrat ridge and got of the train, there was only a limited amount of sun poking through the clouds. Here are some pictures that I took.



















On the lower part of the mountain, the conditions were somewhat slushy due to the mostly sunny weather in the morning (before we arrived, of course). Thus, we stayed at higher elevations for the most part, where the snow was much better.

By mid-afternoon, a snowstorm arrived and it turned into a bit of a white-out. While this led to some pretty poor visibility, it also resulted in a lot of fresh powder in a short period of time. Here’s what it looked like…











Despite the deterioration in the weather, we skied until the lifts closed as the slopes were a ghost-town and the fresh snow was a lot of fun. Fortunately it wasn’t too cold.

The hotel where we stayed had a spa facility with a pool, indoor / outdoor Jacuzzis, steam rooms and saunas. We made full use of it for a couple of hours after spending most of the afternoon skiing in a snowstorm. The weather completely cleared while we were in the outdoor Jacuzzi, which was great, though I would have preferred the clear weather while skiing and the snowstorm after we finished.

Similar to the spa in Adelboden, we got our fair share of nudity from the fellow hotel guests who were (once again) much more comfortable “letting it all hang out” so to speak. I came to realize that the “nude” demographic is a fairly narrow one, consisting almost entirely of out-of-shape, middle-aged (or older) men. Not a pretty picture.

Perhaps inspired by the proximity to Italy, we decided on an Italian restaurant for dinner. The food was good – nothing special, but you definitely left full and that was all that I was looking for after a long day. Plus, the waiters were a crack-up as all of them were Italians with a ton of personality.

Weekend Forecast

I’m heading to Zermatt with Emilie tomorrow and over the course of the past week the weather forecast has become progressively worse. It went from clear and sunny, to partially cloudy, to the present forecast of rain / snow. Fortunately, the majority of the ski slopes are high enough where rain shouldn’t be an issue, but it’d be nice to actually have a little bit of sun…and actually see the Matterhorn, for that matter.

French Elections

I forgot to mention one thing from my weekend trip to France. On Sunday it was election day for a number of regional offices. I’m not sure why, but I was surprised by the fact that they have their elections on a Sunday. Perhaps it’s just because I’m used to voting on a weekday in the U.S.

The turn out for the election was a record low according to the news channel that I was watching. I guess Americans aren’t the only ones who experiencing voter apathy these days.

Weekend in France - Part II

On Sunday we went to a restaurant in Bonlieu, France, for Emilie’s mom’s b-day. The house specialty was a delicacy that I had yet to experience at any point in my life: grenouille (frog). As can be seen from the pictures below, the frog is served “family-style” and effectively consists of a platter full of frog parts (from the waste down). The major source of “meat” is the thigh muscles, which stand out the most in the pictures.










It turns out that frog is effectively a finger food (it’s served with the type of towelette that you’d typically get when eating ribs) and you simply take the legs apart joint by joint and gum / slurp the meat off the bones (or at least that was my impression). And in the end, your plate effectively looks like the sight of a massacre with a large pile of bones.











Overall, I felt that the frog was good and perhaps tasted like very tender chicken. That said, what really stood out about the taste was the seasoning itself, which consisted of a buttery-garlic mix. It was very rich and by the time I had finished my second helping, the full food coma had definitely set in.

And then something happened that completely took me by surprise – another platter of frog parts arrived, but this time in a thick cream sauce. I almost felt like John Candy in The Great Outdoors after he finished the “Old 96er” prime rib challenge only to be told that he still needed to finish the fat, gristle, etc.

At the time, I was honestly questioning whether I’d even be able to realistically eat dinner that night and the next thing I knew there was another full course to face. And I was the only guy at the table so I had the feeling that the lion’s share would be coming my way…

The following photo captures the second platter after we each had already taken a fairly large portion. I was definitely feeling queasy at this point, but managed to keep everything down okay.

After lunch we took a nice long walk down to a lake not far from the restaurant. I think the walk was just what I needed as the combination of fresh, brisk air and some exercise helped tame the food coma. Here are some pictures that I took with my phone. As you can see, the sunny weather had definitely left at this point. Parts of the lake were completely frozen.